Many conventional project planning software applications provide multiple chart formats for project scheduling data. However, the conventional project planning software applications do not typically permit customization of the elements that define a work chart.
For example, the simplest scheduling tool is the bar or Gantt chart. In this conventional format, work activities or tasks are listed in a vertical direction while elapsed time for each work activity or task is recorded horizontally. While this chart format clearly shows the date by which an activity should start and finish, this format does not make clear how the ability to start one activity depends upon the successful completion of other activities. Further, usually Gantt charts are very plain where each work activity has the same graphical layout. With such a display, it is difficult to distinguish important work activities from non-important work activities. In other words, the conventional Gantt chart without customization capabilities does not permit, for example, the differentiation between work tasks that could be categorized as critical relative to work tasks that could be categorized as non-critical.
Conventional project planning software typically does not permit the customization of shapes or sizes of individual nodes that may represent tasks or work activities of a project. That is, the conventional art does not provide a mechanism in which the user can select specific shapes, colors, or formats of the data contained within the shapes for individual nodes that represent work tasks.
In addition to the lack of customization for nodes of a work chart, conventional project planning software usually does not provide any mechanism in which to filter nodes that represent work tasks that match specific criteria. Stated differently, conventional project planning software does not permit a user to customize a work flow diagram based upon how a node is categorized. Further, conventional project planning software does not provide any mechanism which is used in conjunction with a filter to highlight nodes of a specific category so that a user can track such nodes in complex work charts that may comprise numerous nodes.
Also, conventional project planning software does not typically permit the user to select one or more nodes to be customized irrespective of their category. That is, conventional project planning software does not typically permit a user to highlight one or more nodes so that a user can customize the nodes that are highlighted by the user. The conventional project planning software further fails to provide any mechanism for customizing the layout of data contained within the graphical structures that define the physical characteristics of a node. In other words, the conventional art typically does not permit customization of how data is displayed within individual nodes where multiple node configurations are displayed in a particular network diagram.
In addition to the lack of node customization in conventional project planning software, such software typically does not adjust sizes of nodes within a display to make sure that node and data is visible to the user. In other words, in order to view several groups of nodes in a work chart, a user may scale the view so that nodes are displayed at a reduced size. However, when the nodes are displayed at a reduced size, the corresponding data is also reduced in size so that sometimes the node data is not readily visible to a user. In order for the user to see the node data of individual nodes, the user must enlarge or change the size of the whole diagram so that the node data can be enlarged to a size that is visible to the user. However, when switching between enlarging and decreasing the size of a work chart diagram, the user typically cannot readily track the interrelationships between the plurality of nodes that make up a work chart.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a system and method for organizing and generating a network diagram that permits the user to display one or more nodes at one magnification level while displaying other nodes at a different magnification level. There is a further need in the art for generating a network diagram that permits customization of shapes, sizes, and layout for data of nodes based upon node category or nodes selected by the user. A further need in the art exists for a system and method that permits the user to create his or her own data template for the layout of data within a certain category of nodes. Another need exists in the art for a filter that is designed to highlight nodes in a network diagram according to parameters selected by a user. Additionally, there is a need in the art for a system and method that generates a graphical user interface that permits rapid and easy selection of various options for nodes displayed within a network diagram.